Our April garden can be summed up in two words: Greens and Weeds.
With long days, abundant rain, and a few stretches of 70+ degree days, the tiny greens sown in March have grown into tender and delicious salads. And we’re still harvesting the spinach and kale that was overwintered under row cover and plastic.
The kale, though going to seed, is still remarkably tender, and the flowers are a fantastic source of nectar for honeybees and other pollinators.
As for the weeds, they are growing faster than I can possibly ever keep up! Thanks to my cousin and his wife helping me in the garden during a recent visit, and Brian and I doing a “power weeding” session, things are looking much better, but I need to get some mulch on these beds, and quickly! One of my strategies for keeping up with weeds is to make sure that they never go to seed in the garden, so early weeding is very important!
You might remember last year’s squash “situation.” We had created new sheet mulch beds with cow barn bedding on cardboard. I threw a few dozen squash seeds in each bed, figuring that I wouldn’t have much success (squash bugs are a beast around here!). Well, a few months later, winter squash plants had taken over a quarter of the garden! We’re still eating squash harvested last October!
These are the same beds, now amazingly composted down into rich, dark soil, and planted in potatoes. The bed closest to the bottom is brand new, but we still planted potatoes into it.
My primary gardening goals this year are: 1) to grow an abundance of storage crops for the root cellar. I’ll be focusing on potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, beets, carrots, turnips, and other root crops, and 2) to grow greens year round. Achieving these goals means appropriating garden bed space for the storage crops, and not growing as many melons, cucumbers, or tomatoes. For the third year, we’ve invested in a local CSA. I really like the model this farmer uses – he offers shares by the week (I purchased an 8-week share), and when you come to the pick-up, you select your own produce, based on what your family will eat in a week. That means I can round out our produce needs and enjoy his beautiful eggplant and peppers, without having to grow everything myself.
Finally, the upper garden is thriving, with fava beans, peas, garlic, and onions. This space was tilled up with a horse plow and rototiller a few years ago, and I find it to be much less weedy than the sheet mulched lower garden. I knew I wanted a very organic and curvy layout for the lower garden, but the straight rows of the upper garden make for easy and efficient food production.
I’d love to hear what’s growing in your April garden. Please share in the comments below!
Love looking at the beautiful pics. Question… What type of winter squash did you plant that was so successful? I’ve about given up trying, but I love me some zucchini!
Karen, I really didn’t keep track! but in general, I plant squash of the of the C. moschata species. Rumor has it that they resist squash bug attack better. Butternuts are a favorite.
I finally got help getting my new, improved kitchen garden tilled this year, which was such a blessing!
Gardening on the VA coast gets to be a bit of a circus, trying to keep up with the mercurial weather, but…
Right now, I have asparagus in the back garden, dye plants, strawberries and a few leftover potatoes in the middle garden, and kale, lettuce, carrots, onions, peas, cabbage, broccoli, potatoes, beans, cucumbers, gherkins, strawberries and masses of herbs in the kitchen garden. Next up – corn, summer squash and then winter squash!
Sounds like a bounty!! Enjoy the harvest!
I love the idea of a CSA with choices to supplement what we are growing!
We have had alternating hot days with heavy frosts overnight – which leads to feeling bipolar in the garden – the hot weather makes you want to get busy, but the hard frosts remind you winter’s not over yet. April 22nd is our last average frost date, so things are looking pretty good right now. I like your specific goals, I think I need to find some focus this year, and consider short, medium and long-term gardening goals.
The goal setting was huge for me last year, Michelle. Instead of having some non-specific idea of “success,” I was able to very clearly define what I wanted to achieve (last year was also to grow greens year round). It really helped me focus my energy, and to feel really excited and empowered by what I was able to accomplish. Because really, gardening is a never-ending job and you can ALWAYS grow more!
Currently we cannot plant outside due to the frosts yet. I do have some items in the house starting. I also purchased a cold-hardy kiwi plant (it grows as a vine) and will plant it outside after our last frost. It is growing in the house, though.
That’s awesome! I LOVE hardy kiwi!!
I am growing cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, cabbage, onions and beans. I already have tomatoes getting ready to turn red. Onions are doing well.. We have had lots of lettuce and the peppers are flowering nicely. Looks like a good year.
Sounds like a wonderfully abundant garden!!
Started peppers, tomatoes plants in February under a grow light. Cabbage to, just to see if direct plant or seedlings work better. Almost time to plant out. Already put out some peppers which I’m using milk cartons to protect at night from any chill. First garden in many years… Doing straw bale first time as well. Bought canning jars, pressure canner and other supplies. Will be putting in yellow squash and more cabbage as weather permits. Will buy other things locally to round out my veggies and fruits I want to put up. I’m excited… It’s like starting out… At 60…. Lol
That’s so great! It’s also smart to get your preserving supplies ready BEFORE the harvest is ready! (Something I always fail to do!)
I’m in the southern hemisphere so my April garden is different to yours 🙂 were a cooler climate garden, but no real snow. Currently I have rainbow chard from summer as well as new baby plants of it, snow peas, purple podding peas and normal podding peas, beetroot, and baby seedlings of cabbage, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts and broccoli. Also tiny Choy sum plants. Just planted out the garlic and broad bens which haven’t emerged yet…and my first time growing parsnips….I’m not sure how they are growing or even if they have germinated as I don’t know what the seedlings look like?! ( any parsnip tips greatly appreciated! )
Oh and we have fennel bulbs, a few carrots and onions left from summer too 🙂 this is my first year of year round gardening as we aren’t moving house any more! I’d love to have more land to grow like you are! Maybe one day 😉
You’ve got a beautiful start, Terry. What grows on the wire panels that are curved over?
And Linda, where are you in the southern hemisphere that is cool with no snow?
I live in southern Chile and we are just getting ready for the winter. We don’t get snow where I live but all the Andes to the east just got their first cover of snow for the year. I wanted to do a winter garden but just was not ready enough this summer so I am planning to start my early spring peas under a small hoop house in July.
Hopefully, I can get it ready by then!
Hi Lori, I’m in Australia, , 1,017 m (3,337 ft) elevation, in the Blue Mountains. We get hard frosts in winter. Nights are around 5C and days up to 12C but we have mainly dry winters, so very little snow ( although we did get 15cm ( just over half a foot ) last winter in one night! )
Lori, those wire panels are cattle panels that we use as trellises for beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peas. They work fantastically well. The beans and peas will attach to them on their own, and the cakes will with a bit of help. I usually clip the tomatoes on with small plastic clips that I bought last year through a greenhouse supply company. It’s so funny to think of winter starting now for you!